Coach and bus operators facing driver shortages risk their O-Licences if they dilute recruitment and compliance checks, insurance broker and risk management consultant McCarron Coates has warned.
Recruitment challenges, highlighted by the Confederation of Passenger Transport’s autumn 2025 findings of a 12.4% shortage of available coach drivers, have prompted the broker to caution operators against prioritising vehicle availability over due diligence in several key areas.
Those areas are eye health, mental and physical wellbeing, licence entitlements, and driver training.
The ageing demographic of the driver workforce is a particular concern. TTC Group notes in a recent study that half of drivers holding a current Driver CPC are aged over 48. Over 15% of qualified drivers meanwhile fall within the 55-59 age bracket.
When it comes to eye health, a study by Anglia Ruskin University in 2025 found one in four people over 50 struggles to see clearly out of one or both eyes, and that three in four older people experience hearing loss in one or both ears.
McCarron Coates therefore urges strong demonstration of duty of care in these areas, and monitoring for stress and mental health issues such as anxiety, sleep deprivation or other pressures.
It warns operators could face prosecution if duty of care is not demonstrated and an incident occurs which investigators attribute to this failure. The same due diligence should be paid to drink and drugs monitoring.
Beyond health checks, McCarron Coates also highlights the importance of licence and permissions verification, driver record checks, CPC validation and reference scrutiny.
It notes too that driver training should focus on understanding tachograph rules and vehicle dimensions (pertinent during the current regulatory push to prevent bridge strikes). McCarron Coates says the risk is heightened for drivers moving between coach and bus work.
The broker says it is supporting its own clients by embedding compliance controls in driver interview processes and by connecting operators with licence checking services and targeted training provision, including CPC refresher courses.
“The difficulties in recruiting coach drivers are significant and this leads to many operators having a lean driving force, with little leeway to take drivers off the road,” says McCarron Coates Director Paul Coates. “It can also make it tempting to not make that extra check on licences and permissions to drive, or on a driver’s claims to having had training in key aspects of coach driving. It is hugely important that operators keep duty of care at the forefront of their minds and do reject drivers who are not trained, accredited or suitable.”
